Sunday, February 25, 2018

People
who are obsessed with the internet try to post as much as possible in order to
stay relevant, each and every day. There is no end to it as the mobile
revolution has made the constant attention factor a curse or a blessing
whichever you want to choose from. If one who does not post at least some relevant
material each day, they fear losing their audience and the attention they are
craving for. Even in some cases people post several updates each day on their
social media sites. And since there are so many social media sites, some people
have accounts on all of them and they are obsessively updating it with their
pictures, stories but mostly it revolves around them. This is what I called
staying relevant on the internet. The whole life revolves around constant
updates even until the time they go to sleep.

In this
obsession, some of the people have turned to stunts which are clearly dangerous
and some have resorted to reckless comments which they have been forced to
retract due to intense online participants. Clearly it seems that all is fair
in this kind of obsession unless the whole society especially the ones who
urges and craves these kinds of behavior put a stop to it. I know that the
internet has created this monster with people constantly following the
celebrities and in turn the celebrities scrambling to update their status
constantly to keep themselves relevant in front of the core fans but this obsession
like many other obsessions which people have is very unlikely to be overcome.

Despite
Pakistan’s parliament decision to not to send troops to Saudi Arabia which
Pakistan feared will be sucked into the Yemen Conflict, the government (meaning
the powerful Military) decided to send more than 1000 troops under the guise of
the 1982 military pact. And when the Senate and the Parliament wanted to get
some answers from the government why it bypassed the parliament and under what
conditions the troops are there, the government refused to divulge the details
of the deployment. So it seems that essentially the military called the shots
in this case (as usual) with no regard to the parliament declaration showing
that the democracy which Pakistan crying out loud is just a farce and the
actual power lies with the military as seen by countless times the foreign dignitaries
always paying a visit to the Military headquarters with no permission sought (I
believe) from the civilians as they already knows where the ultimate power
lies.

But back
to the deployment, why is this necessary, as everybody knows well that the
Saudis have the best weaponry the money can buy and one of the best equipment
armed forces in the world. So the question is why do they need Pakistani forces
and in what capacity they are there in the first place. But these questions will
never get answered in Pakistan as the Military will never answer why it
bypassed the parliament or why did it not get approval from the government (as
the report says it was approved by the Prime Minister which was just a
camouflaged to show it was approved by the civilians). But even if Pakistani Forces get engaged in the Yemen conflict,
would the people of Pakistan know and would they even raise a voice against it?

Recently
a deranged and out of mind ex student went on a killing rampage and instead of
shooting himself after killing 17 kids, decided to join the escaping exodus and
then went to some store before being caught mercifully an hour later. As the
news of the suspect trickles in, some major issues have been raised, like how
was he able to get a high powered rifle, why was he not flagged even when
alerted to authorities, the latest one is why an armed security guard stood
outside the building for four minutes out of six minutes why the shooting was
happening. How was he able to get into school without getting noticed and also
why was he in the school grounds when he was expelled and was not a student
there? When we get all the answers, it still would not answer the main
question, what triggered him to kill 17 kids without any emotions and regret?

Although
this tragic loss of life will never ever be erased, some of the issues which
has come forefront is the safety and security of schools and the supremely
divisive issue of gun control. Every day there have been demonstrations about
the above two mentioned issues which I will deal with later in our other posts.
Suffice to say now is that hopefully there will be less instances of school
massacres in the future (please note that I am mentioning less instances which
means I believe there can be more until there are no guns available anywhere in
the U.S. but that is a fantasy for now) but my sincere condolences to all the
parents and loved ones who saw the dead bodies of their irreplaceable sons and
daughters who were there joy in life tragically taken away at so young an age
by a reckless and remorseless individual.

People
often confuse culture and tradition in country with the religion of that
country. Tradition and culture often predates religion and it is hard to get
rid of the tradition and culture which is highly entrenched and often comes
into clash with the religion and wins sometimes as the tradition and culture somehow
envelopes the religion and makes it seems like part of the religion which it is
not most of the time. I will give you some examples regarding how it is easy
for the outside people to confuse tradition and culture being part of the
religion. In Saudi Arabia, it has been a long standing taboo that women cannot
drive a car but this was not part of the religion but part of their culture and
tradition. They may have tried to convince people that it is part of religion
but nowhere in any Islamic country, are women not allowed to drive. Driving a
car by a woman driver is not taboo but part of the culture and tradition that
is only being enforced in Saudi Arabia and not even in any Arab country.

Another
tradition/culture I have read is in Yemen where people are eat Khat which is
banned in some countries but legal in some African countries as well as in
Yemen, where it huge. Again since it is a stimulant it has nothing to do with
any Islamic values as tradition/culture dictates its consumption and since it a
stimulant it may be banned in Islam. So does Child marriages, female genital
mutilation (FGM), extravagant spending on marriages and so many others that
people try to associate with a certain
religion but actually is not as some people try to distort certain verses in
the Holy Book to their advantage. It is essential that people read the
background of a certain culture and tradition and try to deduce if it is
actually related to a certain religion. I know it is lot of work but coming to
a conclusion based on little or nonexistent information is worse.

Monday, February 19, 2018

In an
international newspaper I was reading that in India an advertisement for a
clerical position which usually pays only Indian Rupees 7,500 ($1=64.5) and with
a minimum qualification of an eighth grade drew people with graduate, masters
and even doctorate graduate as the population of India is exploding and less
jobs are being created. I know that people want to join a government organization
even if the pay is low since it is a secured job but it is ridiculous that a
job whose requirement is a minimum eighth grade qualification brings in people
with master’s and doctorate degrees. Although the private sector in India is
rising fast and creating big number of jobs, it still does not create enough of
them to absorb millions of people entering the work force each year and thus
create a situation like that above. This big population which happens to speak
English has created an opportunity for foreign businesses to outsource their business
to India.

With a huge
population to cater to and insufficient jobs being created, the salary of
Indian highly educated workers will continue to be under pressure giving ample
opportunity for western business to tap into this huge and cheap workers for
whom any job which pays even the minimum will do. And with little oversight
from the government regarding employee benefits and welfare, the scope of outsourcing
to India is huge, even if there is government oversight over business it is the
job of the outsourcing companies to take care of it. But it is at the same time
sad state of affairs that highly educated workers will keep on being exploited
due to high demand for jobs.

Usually I
devour all the news that interest me but I may have missed the news that my
friend sent to me. Although I knew it for a long time but now it was confirmed
that the banks want to hire fresh graduates and then train them instead of
hiring senior and experienced talent which can be more expensive and may not supposedly
bring new ideas or increasing their bottom line. I can understand the banks
logic in that young people are eager to learn and follow since they want to
grow in their jobs but it can only happen when you are from less than
prestigious schools since the Ivy league or top ranking schools graduate won’t
fall into this trap and anyway the banks would be foolish enough not to offer
them more money. Banking nowadays are racing to increase their revenues due to
increasing cost of doing business and compliance issues and this is one way of
reducing their costs.

But
hiring inexperienced folks would entail more on the job training. And how would
the bank know that after learning the ins and outs of the business, the young
person would leave for a chance to earn more. If you are going to pay less
money to hire inexperience folks, the more experience they gain, the more they
would want more money and the raises in the banks are not that great or even
consistent yearly. And due to hiring
cheap and young, many banks have outsourced their businesses much as possible to
cheap third world countries. There are definitely pros and cons of hiring young
and cheap and the banks have to be careful not to overdo it to spark a backlash
against them (which they don’t care anyway).

I have
written about it before when I mentioned it about my town being short of funds
for supplies. And my town is considered upper middle class with an overwhelming
majority of white and prosperous families. But the other day I was hearing on
the radio that how a radio company is helping teachers get their hands on
supplies which they are unable to get due to paucity of funds. And I have said
it before despite the highest property taxes in the country, New Jersey is also
hurting for supplies then I can imagine other places where the school taxes are
not so high but I don’t really understand why that is so, I have never understood
where does that money go and even after raising property (school taxes) there
is still fund raising going on especially for private schools. Private schools
charge so much money and still they always are on the prowl to get some more.

I am sure
some private schools don’t raise funds but I have seen in my jobs that some
people bring candies to the office to be sold as fund raising. There is like a
perpetual cycle of fund raising going on for sports, school trips and
everything imaginable or creative that the schools comes up with. We all love our
children and want the best for them and sacrifice everything for them but this
fund raising when we are already paying for public schools through our property
taxes has got to stop.

If you
have heard the above phrase, you will know what I am talking about. Every time
a business advertises themselves to the public, they always mention this in
order for the public to visit it and see the full array of information they
have. Since advertising is very expensive and only last a few seconds, it is essential
that the business has a website that potential customers can go to see what
kind of business they have and what products they are selling. Even small
businesses need to have a website and for me it is really frustrating when I cannot
visit a website of a business or the business does not have a website. Although
right now nothing seems local anymore as business need to a website because you
never know where the business will come from and being local is like you are
limiting yourselves to a small geographical area and hindering your potential
to increase your revenue.

And when
business say that visit their website, they are all assuming that you have
either have access to a computer or you do have a cell phone to view their
website. Even now I really see some businesses not wanting to have a website
because either they believe it is a waste of money which is not and it is not
even that expensive or they believe that they are local to an area and don’t want
to bother with increased revenue from outside their sphere of their presence. I
don’t have an insight into the mindset of these individuals but what they are
doing is not reaching their full potential of revenue which they can achieve by
have a rudimentary website.

A detective tries to solve the disappearance of
woman with the only clue of her scarf around a snowman. Not read the novel on which it is based but
the movie was okay but definitely not theater material. Recommended with
caution

Four
friends decide to take a shortcut through a forest in Sweden only to encounter
a supernatural being worshipped by some weird forest people. Okay to watch,
atmospheric and eerie. Recommended with caution

Although
this phenomenon in recent years has seen the rise in the United States but it
was not always that way. People from a country feel proud about it and some of it
to the extent that they feel superior to other countries and abhor immigrants
whom they feel are superior and supposedly don’t take jobs which they think are
beneath their level but when the immigrants want to take that job, the
nationals become agitated. But this is not an American phenomenon as most of the
media would make you believe, but it happens all over the world and lately it
has been showing in places not known for it previously. I am not against
showing patriotic fervor when it is needed and people should be proud of where
they come from and should always show it but the dangers becomes exponential
when this type of patriotic tendencies descent into hatred of anything which is
not of the native land.

I will
give you some examples. You already know how nationalist (or simply white
supremacists) are trying to set their agenda on the U.S. public but they are
not the only ones as the white population in Britain and Poland and Hungry try
to do the same in Europe. And not to mention in Asia, Japan has been
notoriously nationalists as they have looked down upon their Korean-Japanese
population for a long time and despite their shrinking population have refused
to simply open the gates to immigration from less “pure blood” ( you know what
I mean) countries. Chinese do the same as they are suspicious of anything that
is not Chinese and so do the Russians. But if the supposedly Islamic countries
where Islam specifically forbade discriminating based on race, the racist
tendencies of Islamic nationalist states are simply overlooked by the natives
in direct opposition to the nationalists’ tendencies being shown in European
countries due to the illegal immigrants streaming to the European shores by
mostly non White population.

And you
would think that being an African would mean one continent as it is presumed
that it is where all the dark skinned people live but even there discrimination
is pervasive as the Libyans not want to be associated with Somalis and north
African countries feel superior to the less wealthy Africans even if they
themselves are discriminated in other places. But due to the Syrian Civil war
and to a lesser extent the poverty and war ravaging some African countries, the
immigrants mostly illegally trekking to European countries have given rise to
nationalists feeling even in place where none of evident like in Italy and
Greece, home to one of the largest concentration of illegal entrants from
African and Asia. And with the rise of illegal immigrants, the rise of
nationalists in the host countries was bound to happen and it will continue to
remain in the elevated state.

Although
I don’t classify myself as a meat eater always but I am not vegan either, you
can say I am a hybrid type of guy who likes to have a mix of both vegetables
and meat but mostly meat you can say. I don’t know where my dislike or hatred
of certain vegetables came by but I know this that my parents tried to push me
into the vegan world but did not force me to eat against my will. I really
tried to eat some of the vegetable but the sight of the food presented to me
was not to my liking and I don’t want to gross you out with what I thought they
looked like but my taste bud never developed enough to enjoy vegetables
regardless of how healthy and nutritious they are. Even the most delicious food
made of vegetables would not convince me that I should taste it as my
dislikeness of vegetables will hinder me to even take a bite of it.

Now that
is not to say that I abhor all vegetables. I like how my wife makes okra (also
called Ladies finger in many English speaking countries), although I eat it but
it is not that I feel excited but I can stomach it and I can also vouch for
spinach and also vegetable soup or vegetables chips but try to entice me with
eggplant, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and I am ready to throw up or walk
away from the table. But it does not mean I will not carrot or cucumber as they
are my favorites. And this habit of mine just makes my life difficult when I am
not at home as my choice of food shrinks while on vacation as vegetables are
available plentiful but not meat (not the kind I want) but fish can be a very
handy in such situations. So there you have it, I can be flexible on certain
vegetables but not all of them but for the most part I will prefer my meat any
day over vegetables.

I thought
that the Republic party was the party of the discipline or so they billed
themselves to be that way. They were
deficit hawks and fiscal conservatives who would hold onto making government
small and as such deficits even smaller or even balance the budget if and when
they get the government. So here we are after one year of complete Republic
party rule and what have we got, besides cutting some things here and there
like the tax reform bill or some low income supported program which would have
not busted the budget but helped poor Americans get by, the newest budget sent
to congress is bigger than ever with outlays for defense increase-a signature
of Republic party who also have make the Americans believe they are strong on
defense. And the tax reform bill that passed the Congress increased the deficit
over 10 years to more than one trillion dollars and counting.

I also
read that deficit as seen by the Republicans is not as important as it was
before as they are likely to keep on increasing the burden of debt accumulation
solely on the shoulders of the American public. And this debt burden cannot be
now solely blame on Democrats policy as the Republicans compete with them to
have an equal share in this increase in deficit and debt. And with pet projects
of law makers and also of the President high on the list of must do approvals
in the budget and the money to go around not enough, it seems that the only way
is to issue more debt and that is how the United States will seem to be
carrying out its business affairs far into the future.

I read a
story that a 61 year old livery driver protesting New York City policies toward
ride hailing cars and others came to downtown and committed suicide. Before
committing suicide, he wrote at length that how the ride hailing services have
increased competition and led to his ruin as he was about to lose his house
can’t pay off his cars and bills. He said that he tried his best but he was
unable to keep his head above water. Specifically he was ranting against the
current governor of New York and the former mayor of New York City of
introducing these services thus increasing the competition and threatening his
livelihood. It is reported that this is the third suicide in three months for
these drivers. I am not here to judge what went through his mind to commit such
a grave act leaving behind his family to struggle and make a sense out of their
loss but to blame competition for this extreme act will be unfair.

In this
globalized economy, there would always be winners and losers and the people who
don’t or cannot keep up with the rapid changes are going to lash out.
Throughout America, the most industrialized nation on earth, there are people
in some industries who would not be able to do the transition to a new job
requiring a new skill set and would either die bitter or commit suicide. But
suicide is also a selfish way to get out of this situation as the remaining
members of the family become helpless grieving for their loss and also angry at
the person of leaving them alone to fend for themselves. The less educated lot
are already drowning in unemployment and going deeper into drugs and the only
way out of it is to commit suicide in some cases. I wish I had a solution for
this kind of situation but can only suggest that don’t lose your hope as times
do not remain the same and desperate times can be overcome with patience and perseverance.

Monday, February 12, 2018

The region in which I live has been stratified socially,
however unlike the European countries this stratification is based on the
ancestry rather than the economic class. This over time has generated
stereotypes which are associated with people of particular castes. The idea of
this stratification based on ancestry was introduced by Aryans who employed the
caste system. Since the Aryans themselves devised this system so they ascribed
themselves as Brahmins, the highest of the four castes. The malaise didn’t
remain limited to a certain religion but spread uncontrollably. However these
social differences were adjusted according to the needs of time. For example
the British gave the ‘Martial Race’ theory. This doctrine ordained that the
recruits in the Indian colonial army should only belong to the martial races.
However this policy upended when the cannon fodder was sorely needed in the
First World War. Recruitment took place without any prejudices of caste and the
soldiers recruited from non martial castes performed equally well, so that
stereotype was annihilated by the ones who created it. But even in the 21st
century many stereotypes still prevail. One of them is listening to music and
dancing, which is considered un Islamic and it is sneered upon by the majority.
Therefore it is widely believed that it only pertains to ‘marasis’ or the
caste which inherited singing, dancing and entertaining people as a heirloom.
Hence the members of other caste consider it below them to indulge in any of
these activities. However it is important to note that the great Sufis who
enhanced the outreach of Islam in India and converted people in the first
place, never shied away from espousing such practices. The Sama or the
devotional music and dance were an important facet of the meditation which was
employed by Nizam ud din Aulia, Jalal ud din Rumi et al. Which begs the
question why dancing and singing is ostracized and considered demeaning to the
individual. The orthodox believers even in the times of the aforementioned
mystics refuted such practices but they couldn’t bring the religious sources
which prohibited them other than their own predilection. It’s time to eradicate
the tunnel vision that majority has and stop the stigmatization of dancing and
singing in Muslim societies.

I was
reading a long article who has been recently deported to his Native Mexico
leaving behind his American wife and American born kids in the U.S. He was
reportedly brought here illegally when he was only 10 and never went back to
his native Mexico and his parents never did establish any contact with their
relatives there. He stayed here, got education and married and had kids and had
a successful business but he was here illegally. Despite the best efforts of
this family and others in the community he was deported to this native Mexico
where he lives with his aunt where he feels like an alien since he had no
contact with this native land. His family is trying to arrange for him to come
back but it will take at least 18 months before he would be interviewed by the
U.S. Embassy. On the face of it, it seems like a heart breaking story about a
person who has not committed a crime but was illegally smuggled to the U.S.
when he was only 10.

But here
is the rub that this parents or whoever brought him to the United States turned
their backs on their native and never instilled any kind of contact with his
relatives in Mexico which is strange in itself as with the new technology
nowadays, he could have been contact with some of his relatives in Mexico via
many apps. Family does not only mean his wife and kids, it means his relatives
too. I can understand that when he was little he did not know, but after
gaining adulthood, he could have reached out to his relatives in Mexico (maybe
he did or did not) so that he would have felt a little bit connected to his
Native land or the place where his ancestry came from. I can feel the pain that
his family is now in but my advice is to keep in touch with your extended
family wherever they are because in the end a family is a family even if they
are not physically near you.

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A few
days ago, a migrant ship carrying 90 people traveling illegally to Europe
capsized near Libya, the point of departure for illegal entrants to Europe. It
had mostly Pakistanis who wanted to escape poverty, injustice and unemployment
in their country to the so called promised land of Europe to start a so called
better life than what they had back home. The latest news in this saga is there
have recovered some bodies and saved only 4 of them now. Besides they have
arrested the human trafficker whose brother lives in Libya and son lives in
Italy who are all involved in it. Another report said that nearly 600,000
people have used to route to try to enter Europe Illegally. As you may read
news, many have died trying to reach the promised land and those who have
reached successfully are leading a miserable life as the doors of Europe have
been shut and they are living in bad conditions in Greece, the major point of
entry to Western Europe.

As I have
written before, the welcoming mat for the illegal immigrants especially the
ones who are the so called economic migrants has been pulled back. During the
new wave of migrants, the civil war in Syria and Afghanistan were welcome as
they had nowhere to go but during this wave some of the economic migrants from
other countries like Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, some North Africans and others also
tagged alone and were lucky to reach the promised land and they were somewhat
welcomed. Now that the wave has subsided due to the increasing hostility of the
citizens of the host countries, people are still trying to go there despite the
fact that the situation is dire in those countries too with racial and ethnic
hatred and Islamophobia but I guess that the people who are trying to reach
there seems to think that it is better to be in Europe than to die a worse
death in their own countries.

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I have
reading about the water woes of one of the richest cities in Africa and it at
times an interesting but also very frightening read. Actually the cause is
attributed to as much as nature but mostly it is human made. For the last three
years, Cape Town has been receiving much less rain resulting in drought like
condition. Their reservoirs have been down so low that the local government has
given a name for when the water will shut down it is called “Day Zero”. This is
the day when the water will no longer be provided to people and only essential
services will get water. Right now with increasing monitoring, they are
reducing the amount of water being provided through selective water pumps.
People are brushing and washing and whatever they are using water it gets
recycled to flush and given to lawns. Water is being transported from other
less drought areas and now they are moving fast with desalination plants and
other measures which will take time to materialize.

But
despite the efforts, the rainy season which starts from April is all the hope
that is being pinned on which is a big if since for the last three years, they
have inadequate or no rain at all. These are dire predictions even for one of
the richest cities of Africa and it can a showcase for other rich cities where
there fight is on to conserve water like in the South and western United
States. The water usage in the U.S. is 80 to 100 gallons per person per day
which is 5 times what Cape Town citizens are getting right now and it will be
reduced further if rains don’t come in the rainy season. I just shudder to
think how people will be able to cope with the resultant shutdown of this
essential commodity.

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If the
announcement to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem was not enough, now the U.S.
has threaten to cut off aid to them via the United Nations program if they
don’t end their boycott of peach talks with Israel. First the cut off amount
was USD225 million and now it is also another amount of USD65 million. Since the
U.S. is the biggest contributor to this program to help Palestinian refugees,
there will obviously be crisis of major proportion. These programs help the Palestinians
people to go on with their daily lives and the cut off or the threat of it will
definitely mean hardship for them. The Palestinian leadership has refused to
bow down to pressure of this sort and is adamant in their boycott of the whole
peace process and the U.S. being part of it.

So my
question is who is going to replace all this aid. Although some Muslim
countries have come forward to help them (including Kuwait with a paltry $900k
as reported) , I have not read anywhere that the rich Muslim countries will
replace this aid with their own pledge to contribute whatever the shortfall in
funds the Palestinians will need. This is the crux of the problem as Muslims
are so much deeply divided among themselves that they don’t have much time or
sympathy to help their Muslim brothers and sisters in need. If the Muslims and
Arabs in particular don’t help their Palestinians Muslims in need, why would
the Non Muslims care about them helping?

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Recently
there has been resurgent of attacks in Kabul killing more than hundred people
and showing the continued threat of Taliban and Islamic State (IS) strength
despite the presence of Afghan and thousands of NATO forces trying to maintain
peace in the country. The attacks came
in within a week’s time and show the utter failure of the U.S. trained Afghan forces and the intelligence
apparatus they are responsible for. This war has become the longest war in U.S.
History and despite what the candidate Trump said during election campaign,
this war has now become his war as he has authorized sending more troops and
give the go ahead to pursue Taliban wherever they operate which is also in
Pakistan. The U.S. being frustrated in its effort to bring peace to Afghanistan
is lashing out at Pakistan despite the fact that Pakistan is also a victim of
terrorism and may not have that kind of leverage with the Taliban to end the
war.

Even if
Pakistan does have the leverage, the increasing presence of IS militants is
also complicating the peace process in the country. The U.S. relying on India
to increase its presence in Afghanistan is also not likely to materialize as
Pakistan sees much threat in this scenario and also India does not want to send
its troops and get bogged down in a country which dislikes foreigners be it
Pakistan or India. The best scenario for the U.S. is to cut its losses and
leave Afghanistan as the war will not likely be a win for the U.S. But here is
the problem, a recent study suggests that Afghan forces will crumble in a
matter of months if the U.S. leaves but it will have to leave to make the Afghans
realize that it is in their own benefit to bring peace to the country if they
want to get rid of the perpetual cycle of violence they are in now.

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I have
also written about bullying and as with racism on the internet, cyber bullying
is also increasingly become common resulting in some teen suicides. Sometimes
the bullying which is being done in the physical world is carried onto the
world wide web and sometimes it becomes so vicious that some of the victims
either shut down their social media links or had have enough to the point that
they commit suicide. The anonymity and sometimes not on the internet is so
powerful that unless you become emotionless, very few people can ignore it and commit
suicide and then the stories come out that how they were bullied and could not take
it anymore. Even if you inform the police, I don’t think they can do anything
about it as no physical crime has been done, although I believe words can be as
powerful as any physical weapon in hurting people.

Although
bullying will never cease to exist but parents can do help their kids navigate
through this sorry part of their lives as they can monitor their kids online
activities and also keep track of any behavior that is out of the ordinary that
may signal that the child is being bullied. Also reassuring the kids that the
bullies are not going to harm them as long as they ignore their online taunts
and be strong in every sense of the word. In case of this does not stop, the
parents can approach their school and organize likeminded parents in stopping
this cycle of bullying. I am sure different circumstances will demand different
approach but there are ways to fight cyber bullying, you just have to be
persistent in not giving in to their empty threats and taunts.

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I have
written extensively (accordingly in my blog) about racism from different
perspective. And with the election of the New U.S. President, racism has gone
into overdrive and sometimes it is openly preached only to be pushed back by
forces that are against it. A few years back, the U.S. was celebrating the
election of the first Black President and now it seems we are back to square
one as increasing incidents of racism are being witnessed, although people are
trying to fight back as much as they can. In this age of technology, racism has
a new face in the form of internet where you can post anonymously any sort of racist
thoughts and images without the fear of public backlash. This form of racism is
becoming more prevalent and increasingly abusive with only your fingers to
fight back. Although people do call out the racist person but with so much
anonymity afforded by the internet, it is hard to imagine that this will ever
stop.

Although
people who are faced with racist taunts and slurs try to fight back along with
their supporters as much as possible and in whatever way they can, the only
that I can see is to ignore them completely. Although I understand it is hard
to do ignore and the urge to fight back is human nature but that is all these
racist people need is to make their target angry and agitated and then their
purpose is complete. If you ignore them long enough, their purpose will be
defeated. Although it is not a clear cut solution as some of the racists can
get infuriated at being ignored, but on the internet instead of launching into
a back and forth tirade against racist trolls, it is best to ignore them outright
and move on.

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Friday, February 2, 2018

Those who don’t learn from history are condemned to repeat
it. This seems to be the case especially when one looks at the apathy of the
world leaders towards climate change. Before we proceed further we must remind
ourselves that the civilization such as Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa which attained
very high levels of advancement such as sewerage, water ducts to carry it to
the washroom showers etc. 5 millenniums ago were wiped from the face of the
Earth because of the climate change. Therefore, the issue of climate shouldn’t
be a subject of our collective ignorance and should be dealt appropriately. The
humans have a tendency to overlook their long term interests for myopic
benefits. This is the reason why, after the Paris climate summit 2015, the
third world countries refused to abide by the regulations, since they believed
that they are industrializing and it’s the industrialized first world countries
who are responsible for the pollution, hence they should be the ones who should
be subjected to regulations not them. To further exacerbate the sensitive
situation and instead of efforts to placate third world countries, the
magnificent new president of U.S.A Donald Trump refused to accept the Paris
climate accord, setting a dangerous precedent for others to follow. However we
must bear in mind that there are countries like Kiribati and Fiji facing an
existential threat. Kiribati’s demise as a country is inevitable, and it would
barely make it to 22nd century. Resultantly producing climate refugees, the
situation is even more depressing when one witnesses the maltreatment that
refugees generally are meted out and how world community has failed to cope
with the ones that already exist. Taking all of this in account the future
clearly depicts a dystopian picture and the world community must undergo course
correction before it’s too late.

Thursday, February 1, 2018

Recently in South Asia cases of murders after rape of
children and infants as young as 8 month have increased to unmatched
proportions. These heinous crimes raised an outcry for the perpetrators to be
held accountable and finally the lackadaisical authorities sprung into action
and nabbed a few while many remain at large. The case in point in this piece is
of Zainab, an 8 year old girl from Kasur Punjab, who was trapped by one of the neighbor
through his devious tricks. After subjecting that innocent child to multiple
rapes he killed her and dumped her body in the waste. Although this act should
be condemned to hilt but this should also elicit others to reflect where they
stand as society. Therefore it’s equally important to confess the malaise that
have been affecting this region since time immemorial. In India and Pakistan
girls in their days of innocence were married off in yesteryears and this
practice continues to this very day, albeit not openly. The determining factor
if a child is to be married or not was the puberty, if they have reached
puberty it was ok to marry them whereas the age of puberty was determined
according to the customary or the religious laws. This practice hasn’t ceased
and takes place not openly but clandestinely at many areas, which begs the
question if this under age marriage isn’t a form of marital rape? How many
Zainab’s have suffered in the past and how many more are at the risk of
suffering the same afflictions. It’s time that such antediluvian practice
should be given up and for the society to not only settle with the arrest of
the perpetrators but demand fool proof legislation and strict implementation
against underage marriages.